Bias temperature instability (BTI) is a reliability issue in semiconductor device manufacturing, such as the manufacturing of metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs). BTI manifests as an increase in a threshold voltage and a consequent decrease in drain current and transconductance of a MOSFET. The degradation exhibits a power-law dependence on time. BTI is of a concern in both p-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices as well as n-channel MOS devices.
Random Telegraph Noise (RTN) is a type of electronic noise that occurs in semiconductors. RTN can also be referred to as burst noise, popcorn noise, impulse noise, bi-stable noise, or random telegraph signal (RTS) noise. RTN can include sudden step-like transitions between two or more discrete voltage or current levels, as high as several hundred microvolts, at random and unpredictable times. Each shift in offset voltage or current often lasts from several milliseconds to seconds.
Time-dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) or time-dependent gate oxide breakdown refers to a failure mechanism in MOSFETs, when the gate oxide breaks down as a result of long-time application of a relatively low electric field (as opposite to immediate breakdown, which is caused by a strong electric field). TDDB can be caused by a formation of a percolating conducting path through the gate oxide to substrate or the source and drain junctions, when MOSFETs are operated close to or beyond their specified operating voltages.